Share This Story!

“Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and (I’ll) move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21," Robert Redford said in a new interview published Monday.

One last job. It’s a theme that’s powered many Hollywood crime stories. For Robert Redford, “one last job” isn’t just one of the loose themes in his forthcoming movie "The Old Man & The Gun": The film is quite literally his final acting gig.
Time

Robert Redford, pictured at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah in January, said in an interview he'll "move towards retirement" after "The Old Man & The Gun."(Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

In a new interview published Monday, Robert Redford tells Entertainment Weekly retirement is on his mind, and that his new movie, "The Old Man & The Gun," will likely be his last acting job.

“Never say never, but I pretty well concluded that this would be it for me in terms of acting, and (I’ll) move towards retirement after this ’cause I’ve been doing it since I was 21," Redford, 82 this month, said. "I thought, Well, that’s enough. And why not go out with something that’s very upbeat and positive?”

“To me, that was a wonderful character to play at this point in my life,” Redford told EW.

“The thing that really got me about him – which I hope the film shows – is he robbed 17 banks and he got caught 17 times and went to prison 17 times. But he also escaped 17 times. So it made me wonder: I wonder if he was not averse to getting caught so he that could enjoy the real thrill of his life, which is to escape?”

As to whether his days as director are done, the outlet reports Redford seemed more on the fence and "indicated 'we’ll see about that.' "

Similarly "Old Man & the Gun" director David Lowery shared his doubts as to whether Redford could really walk away when speaking with USA TODAY last week.

“I don’t know if (Redford) will (retire)," Lowery said. "He says it’s his last leading role, at the very least, the last time he’ll star in a movie, but I don’t think he can stop. He just loves it too much.

"I saw him a couple weeks ago and he’s got so many things going on, he’s always got so many projects in the works, that I can’t imagine he will completely abstain from working in film one way or another, even if he doesn’t take another leading role," he added. "If it is his last leading role, I’m glad he chose me to handle it with him, but I’m sure he’ll keep working.”

When asked if he ever thought about going back to painting, Redford admitted he was "getting tired of acting."

"I’m an impatient person, so it’s hard for me to sit around and do take after take after take," he explained to his grandson. "At this point in my life, age 80, it’d give me more satisfaction because I’m not dependent on anybody. It’s just me, just the way it used to be, and so going back to sketching – that’s sort of where my head is right now."

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Robert Redford's first movie role was in the 1965 comedy "Situation Hopeless...But Not Serious." Since then he's appeared in more than 50 movies and directed 10 films (winning an Oscar for "Ordinary People," his directorial debut). In August, the veteran actor announced that he would "move towards retirement" after September's "The Old Man & the Gun." USA TODAY takes a look back at the octogenarian's long-running movie career. Patrick Breen, The Arizona Republic

Redford teamed with Dustin Hoffman to play the Washington Post reporters whose stories exposed Watergate and brought down President Richard Nixon in the 1976 film "All the President's Men." Warner Bros. Pictures

In 2006 Redford moved from "The Horse Whisperer" to providing the voice of Ike the horse in an adaptation of E.B. White's children's classic "Charlotte's Web." Suzy Wood, left, and Kristen Loggia, Paramount Pictures

In 2010 Redford, was back behind the camera as director of "The Conspirator," the true story of Mary Surratt, who was tried as a conspirator in the plot to kill Abraham Lincoln. Here he talks with James McAvoy, center, and an unidentified extra on location. Claudette Barius, The American Film Company